Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Common Council Member and Mom Eva Bosbach shares this request she sent two days ago to Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Acting President Don Lewis:

I would like to inform you about a broken swing at the tot lot (the play ground for children of 2-5 years of age close to the Blackwell house) and kindly ask that you let it repair by RIOC as soon as possible.

I am writing to you on behalf of the Roosevelt Island Parents Network (currently 110 families here on the island), of the moms of the Island Kids baby group, as a RIRA Common Council representative for Southtown and a member of the RIRA Island Services committee....

... This swing has been broken for more than a year now. I am attaching a picture. Please let me know if you need any other information.

Thank you very much,

Here's the broken swing

What happened? Well the swing got fixed the next day

and Ms. Bosbach sent a note of appreciation to Mr. Lewis:

I am getting reports from moms that the swing has just been fixed. I thank you on behalf of all Roosevelt Island parents for this quick and helpful reaction!....

Last summer, Roosevelt Island's local resident theater company Island Shakespeare took us on a trip to Garibaldi's Italy of 1860 with their wonderful outdoor production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing at the Eastwood Amphitheater. Director Thomas Kee explained the setting.

Starting this coming January 19, Island Shakespeare will again whisk us off to another time and place, this time Vienna in the 1960's, with their immersive presentation of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure at Roosevelt Island's historic Good Shepherd Chapel.

Island Shakespeare presents an immersion exploration of "Measure for Measure" by William Shakespeare.

Vienna in the early 60's is the "IT" city of Europe, the intersection of elegant classicism and blossoming counter culture. You're a stranger, an outsider, and you are about to witness the facade crumble. Whether you follow the music, follow the story or simply explore the beautiful 19th century stone chapel, everywhere you encounter Shakespeare's tale of corruption and comic dissent.

Kristi Artinian directs a veteran cast of company members and new aspirants to Island Shakespeare's unique brand of story driven environmental theatre. Audiences familiar with their previous production of "Much Ado" will recognize their signature approach of delivering a crystal clear, utterly accessible version of the play while immersing the audience in a thoroughly dimensional world that transports them the minute they enter the space.

"The quartet leads you into this beautiful sanctuary (the historic Chapel of the Good Shepherd on Roosevelt Island) but if you wander off you'll find yourself in a jail cell, or an illegal bar or brothel. It's full of counterpoints." says Kristi Artinian, artistic director of Island Shakespeare and graduate of RADA. The acting company features performances by Brian Keith MacDonald (The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino) as Angelo, Carl Danielsen (Stratford Festival) as the Duke and Patrick Toon (NJ Shakes) as Barnadine.

"Measure for Measure" performs Saturdays and Sundays at 8pm beginning January 19 and closing February 10 at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd an unmissable historic site in the middle of Roosevelt Island. Just one stop out on the F train from 63d & Lex. Or take the Tram like Spiderman. Directions available

Please be advised the CBS television action drama series Person of Interest will be filming at the Good Shepherd Plaza AND at the Motorgate Parking Garage on Friday January 18th from 7 AM to 4 PM. Filming will also take place on Tuesday, January 22nd.

Good Shepherd Plaza- Main street traffic will only be interrupted during actual filming, typically lasting 1 - 2 minutes per "take", which will occur intermittently throughout the day. Public Safety will be on-site and will direct traffic as needed.

Motorgate Parking Garage- filming will take place on the ground level of the garage from 7 AM to 3 PM and will include scenes involving actors using blank-fire adapted weapons. There will be several FDNY and NYPD vehicles as well as safety personnel on site monitoring the entire perimeter.

Sincerely,

Roosevelt Island Operating Corp Advisories Group

More on Roosevelt Island TV and film shooting from previous posts including the very friendly Matt Bomer

During January 9 Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Operations Committee meeting discussion (full audio webcast of meeting is here) on awarding a contract for the Steel Boat Restoration Project, RIOC Director Michael Shinozaki asked a question that made me and others in attendance think "WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT"? Mr. Shinozaki asked:

... all things considered given recent events are we 100% confident this contractor and their employees in no way shape or form have any form of relationship with anyone currently working on the Island or employee of RIOC in any way shape or form whatsoever....

RIOC Director of Engineering Alex Snedkov replied that in his department nobody has any relationship with this contractor or any contractor.

RIOC Director David Kraut said there is no reason in the world to assume there is any relationship.

Please be advised work will commence on the Canopy Installation of the Tram Enclosure Project on Tuesday January 22, 2013.

The work will be conducted during Tram service off-peak hours from 10 AM to 3 PM Monday- Friday, January 22nd- February 6th.

Please note Tram service will be suspended during off-peak hours only. During that time, Red Bus service will be provided from Roosevelt Island to Manhattan (Please see attached schedules). The Tram will resume normal service during the weekend.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a meeting of the Governance Committee of the RIOC Board of Directors will be held on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. at the RIOC administrative office, 591 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, New York.

AGENDA

Discussion of Procedures for Board Ratifications and Board Meetings;

Discussion of Open RIOC Staff Positions; and

Any Other Committee Business That May be Brought Before the Committee.

... We're in a tough position ... we hear things in Executive Session that we can't say to anybody...

and that Governor Cuomo is:

... very much in control of what's going on, he's now looking at Public Authorities...

adding:

... we see Leslie resigning, we see Fernando resigning. We don't know if there was something behind the resignation or they chose to resign. They didn't share that information with us. there's not much we can do about it

and:

... we're trying to get those positions filled ... we're trying to keep this place running to the degree we can...

UPDATE 11:15 PM - Nothing new was learned at tonight's Governance Committee meeting about the selection of new RIOC President and Vice President of Operations except it is more clear than ever that the Governor's office wants to make the decision and the RIOC Directors are unsure of how to proceed.

The RIOC Directors are caught between their independent fiduciary obligations under the Public Authorities Act to the Corporation which gives them the right to hire/fire the President and Vice President and NY State political power considerations which may force them to defer to the patronage wishes of Governor Cuomo.

At the conclusion of tonight's discussion, the RIOC Governance Committee Directors decided to draft a letter, subject to approval by the full RIOC Board, to the NY State Authorities Budget Office seeking direction on how to proceed with selecting a new President and Vice President.

Here's what happened. Watch the whole video to see how decisions, or, lack of decisions, get made on who picks the top executives governing Roosevelt Island.

Prior to the start of every monthly meeting of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Common Council there is a Public Session where community members can address the Council on issues of concern, upcoming events or any other relevant topic.

Monday, January 14, 2013

As previously reported, the long awaited Roosevelt Island Gristedes renovations began in mid November 2012. We're in the middle of January 2013 and renovations have still not been finished,

some shelves are empty, products are difficult to find, ceilings are exposed and the only Roosevelt Island supermarket is a mess.

A Roosevelt Island resident recently wrote in about the Gristedes renovation:

... Is it time for you to do a follow up post on the delays and deplorable conditions over there as the work continues at slower than a snails pace and shoppers are more inconvenienced and tortured than ever ?????

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Welcome to the Roosevelt Islander Online!

Roosevelt Island is a mixed income, racially diverse waterfront community situated in the East River of New York City between Manhattan and Queens and is jurisdictionally part of Manhattan. The Roosevelt Island Tramway, which connects Roosevelt Island to the rest of Manhattan, has become the iconic symbol of Roosevelt Island to its residents.

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